Ultrasensitive Vapor Detection System

This technology quickly and accurately identifies explosives, deadly chemicals, and illicit drugs.

Thermally Conductive Polymer Films

These materials may replace metals as lightweight, flexible heat dissipators in cars, computers, cellphones, and refrigerators.

Estimated Spectrum Adaptive Postfilter (ESAP)

This program enhances images and videos for smartphones, tablets, and PCs.

3D-Printed Structures Morph from Flat Layers into Predetermined Shapes

The flat structure morphs into another shape when temperature changes, enabling self-deploying tents or adaptive robotic fins.

Long-Distance LADAR System and Method

The system provides three-dimensional imagery of potential threats at closer ranges.

Underwater Telecom Cables Used as Seismic Network

Fiber-optic cables could help scientists study offshore earthquakes and the geologic structures hidden deep beneath the ocean surface.

Q&A: Electrically Conductive Coated Yarn for Wearable, Washable Fabrics

Drexel Professor Genevieve Dion is coating yarn with the highly conductive, two-dimensional material MXene.

5 Ws of Microlattice Pads for Improved Helmets

With the new microlattice pads, players will have greater protection from both single hits and a series of impacts.

Technique Creates Transparent Polythene Films as Strong as Aluminum

The films could be used in impact-resistant glazing, windscreens, and displays.

Atoms Can Receive Common Communications Signals

This atom-based receiver has the potential to be smaller and work better in noisy environments than conventional radio receivers.

Wireless Movement-Tracking System Uses Low-Power Radio Frequency Signals

In some cases, radio frequency signals may be more useful for caregivers than cameras or other methods to collect health and behavioral data.

New on the Market: February 2020

Low-viscosity plastic; coin cell holders; oxidation-resistant coatings; and more.

Threads Detect Gases When Woven into Clothing

Equipment-free textile detectors could be used in public health, workplace safety, military, and rescue applications.

Smartphone System Tests for Lead in Water

This inexpensive system can detect lead levels below EPA standards.

Modern Software Links Legacy Systems

Software portal solutions can connect legacy control systems and field devices to the cloud.

Welding Ceramics with Lasers

This technology could be used to create smartphones that don't scratch or shatter, metal-free pacemakers, and electronics for space and other harsh environments.

Insect-Inspired Motion Sensing

This mechanical gyroscope can advance motion sensing capabilities in consumer-sized applications.

Shape-Shifting Robot Uses New Locomotion Strategy

The robot is built entirely from smaller robots and can form a robophysical system that can move by itself.

Dynamic Gripper Mimics Adjustable Grip of the Human Hand

Such grippers would be suited for human-robot partnership in assembly lines in the automotive, electronic packaging, and other industries.

New Products: February 2020 Motion Design

Encoder

The AI25 hazardous series AI25 encoder from Dynapar (Gurnee, IL) is suited for Class 1 Division 2 applications where a Zone 1 or Division 1 encoder may have previously been...

Smart Manufacturing Control

Today's advanced smart CNC controls allow manufacturers to optimize the manufacturing process right on the factory floor

Flexure for Self-Assembly

Conventional fastening mechanisms like nails, bolts, and welds are subject to manufacturing and inspection tolerances, differential thermal growth, and other sources of error that lead to over-constraint, among...

Soft, Skin-Like Structures for Robotic Locomotion and Transportation

These soft robots can be rolled up and carried in a pocket.

Modified Fittings Enhance Industrial Safety

NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is home to one of the largest buildings in the world — the massive Vehicle Assembly Building — and also hosts a number of one-of-a-kind facilities. The...

Robots Assemble Large Structures from Little Pieces

Systems of tiny robots could build high-performance structures, from airplanes to space settlements.

Going Beyond the Basics: Innovative Step Motor Designs Give Machine Designers More Options for Motion Control

Machine and system designers now have greater options in choosing a motor to meet motion control requirements.

Robot Circulating Liquid Stores Energy and Provides Power

This robot “blood” stores energy, transmits force, operates appendages, and provides structure, all in an integrated design.

Intelligent Microrobots

Such machines, only a few tens of micrometers across, could be used in the human body to perform small operations.